The Hope That We Shall Be Like Him
Daniel Nealon
Two hymns—one older, one more contemporary—capture a longing that sits at the very heart of Christian hope. One of them sings: We shall be like Him, O wonderful story! We shall be like Him at last.
Another, a beloved African-American spiritual many Christians know by heart, repeats:
Soon and very soon, we are going to see the King.No more cryin’ there…No more dyin’ there…Hallelujah, we are going to see the King.
Both hymns express the same profound biblical truth: the doctrine of glorification.
Glorification is the final step in God’s saving work—a promise that this world is not all there is, and that one day those united to Christ will be made fully like him in holiness, wholeness, and joy.
Christians throughout history have described the benefits of salvation as a “golden chain,” a series of interconnected gifts God bestows on his people: predestination, calling, justification, adoption, sanctification, and finally glorification. Each link matters. Each is essential. And glorification is the final link, the moment when salvation’s story reaches its ultimate end. It is the completion of everything God has begun in us. It is the fulfillment of every promise God made in Christ. It is the moment when salvation reaches its intended climax.
So what exactly is glorification?
We Shall Be Like Him
The simplest answer is the one the hymnwriters give: glorification means we shall be like Jesus.
When Christians die and enter heaven, or when Christ returns and brings the new heavens and new earth, God completes his saving work in us. He removes every remnant of sin, heals every wound caused by the fall, and transforms us so that we reflect the moral beauty of Jesus Christ.
But there is one important clarification. When we say we will “be like Jesus,” we do not mean we will become God. Human beings never cross the Creator–creature line. We will not become immutable, infinite, or impassible. We won’t become little deities in heaven. Death does not bestow deity. When we die, we remain creatures—glorified, redeemed, and perfected creatures, but creatures nonetheless.
This matters because our culture often speaks of the dead in ways that border on the divine. You’ve probably heard people say things like, “Grandpa is always with us,” “Your mom is watching over you,” or “He’s looking down and smiling.”
These statements usually come from a desire to comfort, but they aren’t biblical. God alone is all-seeing and ever-present. The dead do not become angels, gods, or guardian spirits.
What glorification does mean is far better.
Glorification Removes the Presence of Sin
Throughout the Christian life, we speak of salvation in three tenses: Justification frees us from the penalty of sin, sanctification frees us from the power of sin, and glorification frees us from the presence of sin.
One day, there will not be a single sinful impulse left within us—not a selfish thought, not a twisted desire, not a wandering affection, not a trace of corruption. We will be perfectly holy—not just counted righteous, but actually righteous, transformed by the grace of Christ. We will be unable to sin, just as Jesus is unable to sin. We will have total joy and freedom in holiness into all eternity.
Glorification Restores Our Bodies
The hymns remind us: No more cryin’ there… no more dyin’ there… Glorification is not only spiritual; it is physical. When Christ returns, he will reunite our souls with resurrected bodies—like his resurrected body—no longer touched by disease, that cannot grow sick and are without disability. We will have bodies that will not die.
The blind will see. The deaf will hear. The paralyzed will walk.
Every effect of the curse on the body will be undone. Our humanity will be renewed in perfect wholeness and holiness.
Where Do We See Glorification in Scripture?
Scripture speaks to this hope again and again.
Paul includes glorification explicitly in the golden chain of Romans 8:29–30 which begins with God’s predestining grace and ends in our final transformation:
For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
In 2 Corinthians 3:18, Paul explains that the Spirit is even now making us more like Christ through sanctification, but that this work will reach its completion when we see God face to face. And in 1 John 3:2, we find perhaps the clearest summary: “We know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.”
Sin removed. Holiness perfected. Bodies restored.
Glory for Us—and Glory for the World
The Bible also teaches that glorification extends beyond believers. In the final judgment, Christ will not only glorify his people, but he will also renew the entire cosmos. The vision of the world at the end of time will be a glorified city, a glorified new heavens and new earth, in which God’s glorified people will live forever with Jesus in glory. That’s a lot of glory!
But notice the order: glorification comes last. We long for Christ to return and end evil now, but if he had returned in judgment before he justified us, we would have been swept away with the rest of the world by his wrath. God delays final judgment because he is still saving sinners.
When the final link of the chain is fastened, Christ will glorify his people, remove sin forever, and renew creation itself. And on that day, the hymns will be proven true:
We shall be like Him. Soon and very soon, we are going to see the King.
